Services offer the delivery of digital content to a wide range of computer devices. Digital content is delivered and consumed on computers, mobile devices, smart phones, computer tablets, laptop computers, desktop computers as well as on televisions, smart televisions, and monitors through a wide range of devices including without limitation BLU-RAY digital optical disc players, XBOX game consoles, ROKU digital video players, PLAYSTATION game consoles, WII and WII U game consoles, APPLE TV devices, WESTERN DIGITAL Media Players, BOXEE BOX set-top device, and NINTENDO 3DS. Such digital content that is delivered by download may include books, game cards, motion comics, interactive books, music, games, and video content.
The content may be delivered on platforms that support one or more type of digital media. For example, video content is provided by NETFLIX, HULU, CRACKLE, AND AMAZON PRIME INSTANT VIDEO streaming services; as well as by numerous TV networks and cable channel applications, pay channel applications including HBO GO. In some instances, cable networks may also offer streaming content for digital delivery via mobile and computer applications. Other services may deliver music, games, and printed material in digital form. Digital books, digital comics, and interactive print material and motion comics may be delivered to networked devices. Such material may be consumed on general computers and tablet devices as well as on specialized devices such as the KINDLE or NOOK e-readers. Numerous platforms exist for consumers to stream audio content, such as ITUNES, SPOTIFY, DIY MUSIC, GOOGLE PLAY audio streaming services. Still other platforms provide for the delivery of video games through numerous platforms such as GAMES ON DEMAND, BOX, GAMEFLY, and PLAYSTATION NETWORK online digital game delivery services, as well as numerous game-specific portals such as WORLD OF WARCRAFT, AION, LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINE, EVE ONLINE, TERA, THE SECRET WORLD, RIFT, and STAR WARS THE OLD REPUBLIC, AND GUILD WARS 2 digital delivery services.
Systems employ one of two types of system models. The first model provides end users with unlimited content, which is a subscription model. The second model used is the storefront model, which is a pay-per-item model used. These two models have shortcomings, and there is a need in the art to solve these problems. The models do not effectively serve the intellectual property holders of the content, such as studios, book publishers, game studios, music publishers, because the models provide no data, or only a single data point (point of sale info), regarding the consumer/member. Data and information are extremely important and valuable resources, and the failure of the existing digital delivery models to collect additional data and information are shortcomings. Moreover, in creative industries such customer information is of enormous value because if allows for increased effectiveness for marketing and crafting of new content to end users. The existing models do not adequately support these activities, and employ the contrarian approach of hording data without optimizing its value. In addition, by intermediating between end users/members and intellectual property rights owners, both models fail to provide the intellectual property rights owners with the ability to directly interact with the end user/member regarding content that is not available on the platform.
Digital content delivery models deliver digital content through various computer networks and cloud servers. These models deliver content to individual users upon request to a plurality of devices, which enables users to access digital content from a broad category of choices through an on-demand basis. In existing systems, payment by the end user is accomplished through a yearly or monthly rental or subscription contract. Alternatively, other systems provide content to end users for free and display advertising content interstitially to the end user as the content is consumed, such as television commercial advertising, as employed on broadcast television, or displayed alongside the content, such as banner ads. Such systems may permit the user to play back or otherwise display the digital content more than once, while preventing unauthorized users from gaining access to the digital content via a limit to the number of devices that the content may be consumed on in some fashion.
Some systems limit the number of devices on which a purchased digital song or movie may be installed, while other systems limit the number of digital devices that may simultaneously access the subscription service, enforced through a password protected user account. A limitations shared by such digital content delivery systems is that, unlike physical content that may be shared and used on multiple devices at various locations and various times, the existing digital content delivery systems do not allow the sharing of the content in the same way that a consumer may share purchased or rented material. For example, when an end user rents or purchases a movie on a BLU-RAY digital optical disc, the disc may be handed to any number of friends for viewing without limitation. In contrast, digital content may not be similarly shared among friends for viewing without violating license terms or permissions.
None of the existing digital content delivery systems allows users to freely share digital content offered by a digital content provider. The present invention addresses these shortcomings and fulfills the need of consumers to share content legally by providing a platform that facilitates and encourages users to distribute the content freely, while simultaneously benefiting the content owners. Existing platforms and distribution systems also fail to provide mechanisms for members to promote content to members of a platform and be rewarded for such promotion.
Many digital content providers require end users to sign up for a subscription service, paying a monthly or yearly subscription fee in exchange for unlimited content. Other services allow end users to purchase content one item at a time, such as a storefront model. Under these systems, consumers are required to pay prior to receiving or viewing the content, which is yet another shortcoming.
Some services offer a limited trial period, wherein an end user may access the service for a month or is granted access to a trial version of software or service with limited functions. Such free trials require a credit card or other personal data from the consumers that they may be reluctant to provide. Other digital content delivery systems do not charge for some or all of their content but instead use an advertisement model, whereby commercials are displayed before and during delivery of the content. Other systems display advertisements on the screen along with the content. Such an approach, however, creates a distraction to the viewers because it either delays the consumption of the digital content, or is displayed continuously alongside the content, thereby offering a suboptimal end user experience. The present invention solves these and other shortcomings of existing systems.